1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a semiconductor thin film, in particular, an indium antimonide thin film, and relates to a magnetoelectric conversion element provided with the semiconductor thin film manufactured by the aforementioned method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, an indium antimonide, that is, InSb, compound semiconductor having high carrier mobility has been used as a material for magnetoelectric conversion elements, such as a magnetic resistance clement and a hall element. Among those, for example, an InSb magnetic resistance element was made of an InSb single crystal bulk flake being adhered to a support substrate, and thereafter, being polished so as to be an element, although there was a problem of poor reliability at a high temperature. This was because of an occurrence of degradation in the adhesion force at a high temperature, an occurrence of peeling and cracks due to differences in thermal expansion coefficients among InSb, an adhesion layer, and a support substrate, etc. Therefore, in recent years, many attempts were made to directly grow semiconductor thin films of III-V compounds, such as InSb, on Si substrates, and an InSb thin film having good quality was produced as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 7-249577. Since the InSb thin film having high quality was directly formed on the Si substrate so as to be an element, this film was a potential magnetic resistance material for high temperature uses, such as car electronics.
When the InSb thin film was grown-on the Si substrate in accordance with the method disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 7-249577, however, the carrier mobility was about 42,000 cm2/V·s or less, and was not sufficient for the desired sensitivity of the magnetic resistance element.